Memoirs
by hippiechick2112
Summary: Captain Jeanie Morrison recalls all of the good and bad events of her life at the 4077th during and after the war, mostly concerning her relationship with Hawkeye Pierce and other camp antics. Outtakes from the series, "This Forsaken War".


**Memoirs**

**Note and Disclaimer: I don't own the character of _M*A*S*H_, but the character of Captain Jeanie Morrison (the main character and narrator) belongs to me. These are outtakes from the series "This Forsaken War", chapters and others things that I discarded or some other scenes I thought of after the story series' end in 2010, but saved because I liked them. I figured it would be fun to put them all together and kind of complete the series almost, going from war to postwar. Some of them, I filled in, to explain some chapters and get a few laughs. Enjoy!**

* * *

The first evening together in the Swamp and kiss outside of my tent was never enough for me, as I've always thought. Walking around on Cloud Nine was not exactly the way to put it (although, I say, I kinda was mostly), but I could never describe the feelings I've had when being around Hawkeye Pierce, especially after that first night together. Hell, it had been two nights since that first kiss in front of the nurses' tent, but I was hungering for more and more, wanting to be with him. And more was what I was about to get…in the form of another date.

When I had Post-Op duty in the warm autumn morning (well, it was two mornings after that _kiss_, me counting those days since that night like a child), Hawkeye showed up as I was writing reports at the desk. It was not unusual surely for a doctor to come in and make rounds randomly, even if he was not on duty, but there was something in his blue eyes that said that he needed something and that I was it. I avoided his glance when he eyed me, but then turned to look back at him when I could not stand it any longer, when that gaze was tearing me apart. Even though I was busily doing something I hated doing (writing on paper, I mean), I was always interested in what Hawkeye wanted to say and do. Today was one of those days, just as it had been.

It wasn't like Hawkeye had been paying much attention to me. Indeed, that had been growing since he invited me to the Swamp. He alone would seek me out, ask my opinion and even poke at me to join him in surgery. It wasn't something that didn't get people to talk (and boy, did I _ever_ hear it from the nurses!), but it was something that made me special, like I was _somebody_ and not the nobody people made me out to be here.

Besides, it made me warm inside to feel love once more, even if it was the giddiness of a teenager in school.

When Hawkeye saw that I was looking at him too (finally realizing how wonderful it was to have someone who liked him for who he was and not for what he had under his pants), he went over to me, leaning in just so and barely kissing me quickly on the head. "So, how is my favorite nurse doing?"

I couldn't help but giggle like a schoolgirl too, even if Henry was nearby on duty and most likely straining his ears to hear every word said. "Oh, just getting by, I suppose. What do you have in mind now, Hawkeye?"

"Well, I was thinking of maybe a dinner for two in the minefields, with a cozy little blanket and some gin newly made from this morning. I heard that it was a good morning today and that tonight is bound to be a better night. Less artillery in the weather forecast, but there's going to be more gin. Mother promised me."

I laughed out loud with pleasure, causing Henry to move his head from his patient to me in sort of a slow motion sort of way, like in a movie. Granted, he was very red-faced from annoyance (most likely from Hawkeye butting in when I was on duty and he was not), but he could do nothing nonetheless. Hawkeye was innocently talking to me, as he had for the past two days (sweetly, I should say), and ignoring every other nurse, but it didn't mean that he was guilty of something. And that something was about to pull himself in, in the form of a major pain, to be precise.

Just when I was about to answer my favorite person of the day (and perhaps the month or longer, if things went the way I wanted them to), Frank Burns appeared. Holding his pants from behind and only walking around in that and his undershirt and Army cap, he looked like he was more than pissed off. Even his Regular Army spit-and-shine boots were missing from feet, revealing more than just hairy toes, dirty feet and long toenails that showed black nail polish (most likely painted because of Margaret Houlihan). I swear, even his nose hair was missing that tight hourly cleaning it was used to, cringing in a curl as he noticed Hawkeye. I guess they needed to run from the hideous thing that is Frank Burns.

"Pierce!" Frank began, not knowing what else to say other than calling Hawkeye out on something, to get his attention. "Pierce, how could you?"

"How could I do _what_, Frank?" Hawkeye asked so innocently, smiling as he picked up a clipboard from the corner bed next to where I was sitting. "I didn't know that the Army was demanding a new uniform. Where was the memo?"

"This is no new uniform, you degenerate," Frank hissed, waving part of his pants, even in front of a patient in a jaw sling, mind you. "You stole my belt and switched pants sizes on me! I am wearing an enlisted man's uniform pants now!"

"Oh, come off it, Major," I decided to say bravely, testing the waters. "What difference does it make? We're all one color here, right?"

"And that's supposed to be red," Hawkeye added, making a check mark on the clipboard. "Red for blood, Frank. We're all the same here. Why does it matter you have somebody else's green pants, which everyone wears, by the way?"

"Find me my pants, Pierce!" Frank screamed, taking off his cap and throwing it to the ground, stomping on it in the process. In the meantime though, his pants fell down and there was a good site for all to see.

There was an immediate response, I have to say, but Frank did not see it right away because of how involved he was with Hawkeye. Nurses turned away quickly, some of them turning pink in the face with embarrassment. Patients who were up and about had to avert their eyes, some of them snickering at the officer who now was giving them a show. Hawkeye and I could not stop laughing, him most of all. I had to cover my mouth with my hand, trying to keep meek and quiet, but I could not help myself. Hawkeye was slowly drawing me out, bringing out the best in me, and it delighted me to be that person again.

And then, of course now, there was Henry. Good old Henry, whose annoyance was now at an edge (and might topple over), came over to us, tapping Frank on the shoulder to remind him of something important. And while Frank was shocked and did not bother to stop showing off, he saw his mistake and pulled whatever he had left up. And _boy_, was Frank red in the face too! I don't think I saw a man more humiliated in my life, not even Clarence, my stepfather, when he made a scene in the driveway.

Then again, I don't think Clarence _knows_ the meaning of shame, except on others.

"You know, Frank, you're out of uniform," Henry said seriously, trying not to crack a smile too. "I will have to put you on report to General Barker."

"And you let those…those…_animals_…get away with running around in their _robes_?!" Frank screamed, pulling Henry behind the curtain to the office for more privacy, even though there was none. "_I_ will get you no report, Colonel! Make no doubt about that!"

It was then, behind that curtain, that Frank disappeared into the office space, door flapping behind him like a tree in the breeze. From where we were, the three of us heard him yelling at poor Radar, who was most likely getting into something he wasn't supposed to, and some things being thrown about the office. Then, there were some orders that Radar was going to patch in a call to somebody or another and he had to do it _now_.

Henry tried hard not to laugh along with the others, but there were catcalls behind him that he had to still. "Easy now, men," Henry cautioned to the crowds behind him. "There'll be more where that came from."

"Will he join the USO?" a wounded man asked him, the same one who had his jaw in a sling.

"I'm sure we'll hear an announcement from Major Burns' booking agent soon," Hawkeye added with a wink to the wounded man, looking back to me with his blue, blue eyes. "So, Jeanie, how about it? Lunch at the minefield?"

It took me seconds to give Hawkeye an answer. From the merriment of the people around me (save for the sniveling nurses who were pissed about me getting some attention) to the laughter in Hawkeye's eyes, I could not deny something that I've wanted since that night in the Swamp. I had to go along with my heart. And my heart was telling me to take it for what it was, to take some chances, and to be the Jeanie that was supposed to be.

"Take me away," I only said, even as Henry growled and had to walk away to meet up with Frank again, giving us the privacy that never could be. "Just give me a time and I'll be there."


End file.
